


Prince(ss) of Finland

by Eknomind



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Felipe is a ninja, Kidnapping, King Mika, M/M, Minor Injuries, Most of it is cutesy, Prince Nico, Prince Valtteri, Turbo the royal cat, bodyguard Kimi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-05-02 04:26:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14536614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eknomind/pseuds/Eknomind
Summary: Prince Valtteri of Finland pays his first visit to a Formula 1 race. Awkwardness, drama and new friendships ensue.





	1. Chapter 1

Prince Valtteri of Finland wasn’t quite sure how people had started to call him “Princess Valtteri”. He was pretty muscular and his wide head wasn’t feminine in the slightest. Not to mention that he barely had any hair and was going bald at an alarming rate. And even then his distant relative Prince Nico looked a lot more like a princess. Nico was gorgeous and Valtteri felt quite threatened by him. And boy, didn’t Nico know it. The German prince showed up every summer, loitering around, doing photoshoots and most importantly laughing at Valtteri, who had to spend most of his time preparing to lead the kingdom once his father stepped down. That meant studying etiquette, politics, diplomacy, finances and an endless list of other boring subjects. The worst must have been the dancing lessons. Nico had happened to be around and the teacher felt like Nico would be a good dance partner for him. Valtteri had been so shocked that he messed up his steps, stomped on Nico’s toes and ended up landing on his ass when he fell down. He had broken his tailbone and winced every time he sat down for a month. Nico had teased him relentlessly for that.

And now, now Nico had somehow gotten into racing. Money and princehood had opened doors to him very quickly. Even worse, the royal advisor, Keke, was Nico’s father and the man had convinced King Mika that Valtteri should show up at one of the races and meet some influential people. Somehow that meant hanging around oil sheiks, oligarchs and other such shady characters. He had expected to at least spend time with the drivers or team bosses, maybe CEO’s. But that was Nico’s life. Valtteri’s life included breakfast with Vladimir Putin. He did understand that it was important to get to know the leader of the neighboring country, but meeting a man that smart was unnerving before having his morning coffee. At least his new bodyguard wasn’t into dick measuring contests so he avoided that particular awkward moment at the beginning of the meeting.

“Now that you have done the breakfast, you have interviews until your lunch with other royals, including the prince of-”  
Valtteri sighed and tuned out of the royal protocol manager’s constant chattering. Heikki was nice enough, but Valtteri would prefer some me-time. Unfortunately, achieving that would have been hard with a bodyguard and protocol manager with him at all times during these trips. Well he didn’t mind the bodyguard. Kimi had said about three words during their time together and the guy’s presence was easy to forget.   
“- and then there’s the time to meet fans and, what was it,” Heikki got silent as he thought about the last event before dinner. Valtteri secretly hoped there wouldn’t be any, but that was pretty unprinceful behavior and he kept the thought to himself. Heikki snapped his fingers.  
“Oh yes, I almost forgot! Nico’s team wants you to do an interview with him and a quick photoshoot after that and then it’s time for the dinner with CEO’s of local companies and then we can go through tomorrow’s agenda!”  
Valtteri deflated. A public thing with Nico? That was going to end so badly. 

Nicko hug tackled Valtteri not too long before they were due to show up before the cameras.  
“I’m so glad you came, Princess!” Nico said and smiled at him. Valtteri showed his tongue in response.  
“Why are you calling him Princess?” a person Valtteri hadn’t noticed before but who must have come with Nico asked. He was pretty handsome, dark skin, curly black hair and mirrored sunglasses. Nico’s grin widened.  
“Lewis, meet His Royal Highness Valtteri, the crown Princess of Finland. Princess, meet Lewis, my best friend!” Nico introduced them and they shook hands awkwardly.  
“Nice to meet you. Are you really a princess?” Lewis said and smiled at Valtteri who blushed bright pink and muttered something resembling a no.  
“It’s a funny story actually,” Nico chimed in and Valtteri wanted to sink below ground.  
“So he was like 19 and there was this big garden party. Valtteri might have gotten a bit too drunk and got lost in the hedge labyrinth. When he came back his shoes, and actually socks too now that I think about it were gone,” Nico told Lewis, smiling devilishly. “Well his dad, that’s King Mika, obviously wasn’t happy about the thought of his precious prince walking around the party where there could have been broken glass and whatnot around so he ordered Valtteri’s bodyguard to carry him around like a princess.”  
Valtteri’s pink color had turned into a bright red by now.  
“And that’s where the name came and he has been stuck with it ever since,” Nico finished, but then felt the need to add the last bit of humiliating information. “Oh and his bodyguard was like three inches shorter than him so it wasn’t even that graceful.”  
Nico tapped on his phone for a bit and presumably showed a photo of the event to Lewis since they both burst out laughing.

They had gone clubbing after the race. Nico claimed he didn’t go after every weekend, that with Valtteri it was a special occasion. The way Nico knew his way around the club suggested otherwise. Valtteri had stayed pretty sober ever since the garden party, but now Nico had clearly talked him into taking more than he could stomach. He wasn’t quite sure how, could he really have drank this much? Nico seemed to be just as drunk though, it helped a little. Eventually Kimi practically carried both of them outside to get some fresh air. Valtteri assumed the very sensual dance Nico had performed in front of Kimi had something to do with it. Suddenly Kimi released his hold of Valtteri, jumping backwards.  
“My shoes!” the bodyguard yelled before getting hold of his cool character again and sighing.  
“With due respect, Prince Nico, I think it’s time to get you back to your hotel. I’ll go catch a cab.”  
Valtteri leaned heavily against a lamp post, trying to focus his eyes on Nico, who was sitting next to a pool of vomit on the sidewalk. He could feel himself sliding down the lamp post and his eyes closing.

“Valtteri! Wake up!”  
Valtteri was surprised to wake up lying on the floor with Nico leaning over him, looking pale after last night’s drinking. Valtteri knew he probably didn’t look any better and Nico had only woken up before him thanks to throwing up the last three shots or so. Valtteri was slowly becoming aware of the hard and cold concrete floor he was lying on and the aching in his back lying on it had caused. Usually Kimi wouldn’t let him sleep like that so he proceeded into the next logical step. He pulled himself into an upright position, headbutting Nico in the process and then both swearing as the pain shot through their heads. Valtteri blinked away the tears, trying to see where his bodyguard was gone. Instead all he saw was an empty, dark concrete room, lit only with one depressing old lightbulb.   
“Nico!” he whispered angrily. “Did you get us arrested?”  
Nico tried to look offended but missed by a mile.  
“No! This is not what drunk cells look like around here,” Nico answered.  
“Sounds like you have a lot of experience for someone who doesn’t go clubbing often.”  
“I had to bail Lewis out more than once,” Nico said, rolling his eyes unconvincingly.  
“Sure you did. I’ll ask Keke when we get out.”  
“Don’t you dare-” Nico began.  
“Get away from the door, coming in,” someone yelled from the other side of the door.  
Both crawled a little further away and the door opened. The man stepping inside wasn’t from the police.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get serious, Valtteri makes a plan and Nico is completely useless.

“Sign it.”  
Valtteri responded by spitting, having gathered good amount of blood and saliva in his mouth. The man behind him grabbed his left arm, bending all the way to the breaking point. Valtteri grimaced, but didn’t scream.  
“No.”  
The guy in front of him tilted his head, body language screaming disappointment despite the mask covering his face. The man nodded and Valtteri heard a terrifying snap and pain shot through his body and settled on his arm. This time he did scream and from his side he could hear Nico instinctively trying to reach him, then a loud thud and the rustling stopping.  
“Sign it or your leg goes next.”  
Valtteri spat out again. He would not be an accomplice of these kidnapping thugs and he would not sign his own ransom letter. He had been through military training. He could handle whatever torture they could try to throw at him to get money from his father.  
“Let’s try with the other one since he seems so eager to help,” the man said, just the words knocking all air out of Valtteri. His fight went with his breath.  
Nico tried to back away from the thug, but he was easily caught and pulled closer by his hair, screaming like he was being eaten alive.  
Valtteri could almost see the man offering him a pen smiling behind the mask,  
“Sign or we break his fingers.”  
Nico’s fingers, his dream of winning the championship, they would all be gone. Valtteri grabbed the pen.

“Val-”  
“Shh, I’m thinking.”  
“Sorry about your arm,” Nico whispered. Valtteri turned his grey eyes at him and put one finger on Nico’s lips.  
“I. Am. Thinking. Be quiet.”  
Nico huffed and crawled away from Valtteri, staring at his relative with newly awoken interest. To him Valtteri had always been the nerdy, awkward cousin. Cousin who was fun to tease just to see that amazing blush creep on his face. This Valtteri was different. He was calm, calculating and looked a lot more like a leader than the teenager Nico had seen him as until this day.  
Valtteri lifted his head and nailed his blue eyes on Nico. “I have a plan.”

“So to be clear, I am going to open that lock and you keep guard. If someone comes, you distract them. Same thing with each door until we are out,” Valtteri explained.  
“How am I going to distract a bunch of gangsters?” Nico complained.   
“Just look pretty,” Valtteri huffed. Nico could see the blush creeping on the crown prince’s cheeks but decided for once to not comment. Soon enough Valtteri presented him with some bobby pins. Nico could only guess where Valtteri had been hiding them.  
“That is such princess thing Val,” he said, smirking. Valtteri groaned.   
Nico looked in fascination how Valtteri’s face changed to one of perfect focus, him working the lock open with his uninjured hand, supporting a second pin with the other one, feeling and hearing the clicking of the bolts. Soon the clock made a louder click and Valtteri pushed it open carefully.

Trouble started at door number three. Nico’s feet were swept from under him, but attacker tackling Nico first had bought Valtteri enough warning time and soon enough the thug was thrown against the opposite wall and he didn’t get up again.  
“Good distraction,” Valtteri said, clearly trying not to laugh at Nico who was laying on the floor. “You just forgot the guarding part.”  
Valtteri crouched to continue working on the lock like nothing had happened, leaving Nico staring at him with his mouth open. The lock clicked and Valtteri carefully opened the door, looking and listening for any signs of an ambush. He tried to signal Nico to move with his hands but it was clear that he German prince wasn’t familiar with military gestures.  
“This means get your ass moving,” Valtteri whispered and showed the sign again.  
“And this means stop.” He showed a different sign. Nico nodded.  
Valtteri signaled him to get moving.

Four more locked doors and some hiding in the toilets and behind trash cans later they were at a door that seemed to lead outside. There was no telling if there would be anyone on the other side of it though. Valtteri didn’t tell Nico, but he knew there was a fair chance they would get shot or at least tied in a way that they would have no more chances of escape. He allowed himself some time to think, to count the odds of the number of enemies they might be facing. He counted the number of thugs they had fought or evaded. Thought about their equipment. Would there be guns or knives or something else. He snapped out of his thoughts when he realized that if he was correct, a guard would be checking this hallway in just a couple of minutes. They would have to move now.

There was at least five of them against Valtteri who was slowed down by his injured arm and Nico, who was just useless in general. He pushed Nico hard and the other man tripped in surprise, landing on trash bags safely behind one of the bins outside. Valtteri dived behind another just in time to avoid the knife thrown at him. That meant the men weren’t allowed to use firearms yet. Which wasn’t much use considering that all of the thugs knew their location but Valtteri couldn’t be sure about all of theirs. Even less so when hiding behind a garbage container. He focused his stare on Nico, whose eyes met his. Valtteri pointed a direction and signed the German to move.

Nico crawled around the bin, constantly fearing to meet the barrel of a gun or, if he was honest, just an unarmed thug could be the end of him. He heard yelling from Valtteri’s hiding place and sounds of struggle. On the other side of the bin Nico stood up and ran. He turned the corner and someone grabbed his arm and pushed him against the wall, covering his mouth and muffling the scream.  
“Shut up,” Kimi said and rolled his eyes. Nico’s scream stopped there and the bodyguard’s hand left his mouth.  
“Kimi what are YOU doing here?” Nico whispered. Kimi shook his head. Around the corner they heard one last roar and a pained gasp and then eerie silence. A short figure flew past them towards the action. Kimi looked at it and then Nico.  
“Hide. We’ll deal with it.” And then the bodyguard was gone, around the corner where Nico couldn’t see him or Valtteri.

Valtteri woke up in the back of a dark van, trying to piece together the events that lead him there. He could remember telling Nico to go and the prince disappearing behind the container. He had vague memory of trying to fight of a group of men and then- what? What had happened? Had they just knocked him out so thoroughly that he couldn’t even remember? Was he being taken to a more high security facility now? Or, his stomach clenched, had he been out of it for so long that they were already exchanging him for the ransom? If so, why wasn’t Nico here? The car took a sharp turn and stopped and the engine was turned off. Valtteri assumed an unconscious role and prepared for one last fight.  
The door opened and a pair of hands grabbed him, ready to hoist him up. Valtteri headbutted the person and was rewarded with a stream of Brazilian Portuguese curses. He opened his eyes to see a very annoyed Brazilian staring at him and holding his bleeding nose.  
“I was just trying to help!” Felipe exclaimed. “No need to hit me!”  
Felipe. His old bodyguard!   
“Don’t try to talk. Let me carry you.”  
Valtteri crawled from under the bodyguard.   
“You’re not carrying me anywhere!” he snarled. Felipe laughed and hoisted the prince on his shoulder despite the loud protests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this chapter we get funny and cute again, don't worry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valtteri is making a recovery and King Mika finds out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can tell I have never heard of a publishing schedule.

Valtteri was in a big hospital room. It looked large enough to hold at least four patients but now Nico and Valtteri were the only patients. Well Valtteri was a patient, Nico had survived the trip with just some minor scratches. With two bodyguards, apparently Kimi had teamed up with Felipe, Nico, the doctor and a bunch of other staff in the room, they really needed the large space. Valtteri had mostly observed, not speaking much as the doctor examined his arm and took notes about his vitals. He barely listened when the doctor went through his injuries that somehow included broken ribs and a couple of other fractures he got from fighting. All the wounds on his face and hands had been expertly parsed together and he was assured the scars wouldn’t be visible against his pale skin. Nico had made a bunch of snarky comments about how the princess couldn’t afford losing his beauty, but there was a new kind of warmth to the words. Valtteri didn’t have the energy to think about it yet and soon he fell asleep in front of, well, everyone.

“Ah the princess has woken up after his 100 years of slumber.”  
Valtteri would have hit Nico had he not felt like he had been run over by a truck. Not that it would have been a good idea, Nico had positioned himself so that Valtteri would have had to hit him with his injured hand. Nico laughed at his pathetic attempt but looked slightly worried when Valtteri looked at him.  
“What?”  
“I have never seen you sleep this much.”  
Valtteri looked at him, now alarmed.  
“Well you didn’t wake up when they put the cast on and you actually slept for like 14 hours.”  
Dark hand landed on Nico’s shoulder.  
“C’mon man, let the hero rest. He’s earned it by saving your pathetic ass,” the owner of said hand said. Nico laughed and looked at Valtteri with fondness he had never expected to see on the other prince’s beautiful face. Valtteri felt like he should know who Nico’s friend was. He thought about asking, but he was turning back into his own awkward self and decided to not embarrass himself. Nico sighed.  
“Princess, this is my friend Lewis. You met last Thursday,” Nico introduced his friend. Valtteri looked at the pair, puzzled. Lewis seemed familiar, but he didn’t remember ever meeting the guy. Nico ruffled his short hair.  
“Don’t worry, princess. They said you hit your head pretty hard but it shouldn’t be permanent.”

Next time Valtteri woke up it was night. This time the spot by his bed was taken by Kimi. Of course. There was no way he would be left alone for a second before he was safely home and behind locked doors.  
“Thanks for coming to get me,” Valtteri croaked, surprised by how down his voice was.  
“It’s my job,” Kimi answered not looking at Valtteri.  
“Your job is to keep stuff like that from happening,” Valtteri started and raised his hand against apologies, “not call Felipe and go all SWAT to get me out.”  
“Well it was either that or calling the King and telling I lost his favourite son,” Kimi said and smirked, finally looking at the shocked prince.  
“Dad doesn’t know?”  
“I’m sorry, I know I should have called him-”  
“Don’t be. I’d never be let out of the castle if he heard about this,” Valtteri said, interrupting the bodyguard’s self-pitying.  
“Damn right,” Kimi muttered and they laughed. It hurt Valtteri’s ribs though and his coughing and groaning turned Kimi’s face into one of deep concern.  
“Prince, I think it’s time for you to rest now.”  
Valtteri couldn’t really argue against that.

The two princes were in the middle of an intense game of cards with Lewis when Heikki rushed in, waving a newspaper. The protocol manager aimed his furious rant at Kimi though.  
“HE WAS KIDNAPPED?!” Heikki screamed. “He was kidnapped and you didn’t feel like telling me! You said he fell down some stairs while clubbing!”  
All three looked up from their game, now interested. Kimi, who was sitting on the couch, looked sheepish and somehow a lot smaller than Heikki despite the reality being the other way around. Heikki noticed, of course, and aimed the next blow at the princes.  
“And don’t you two laugh there, wait until your fathers find out!”  
It was almost comical how Valtteri’s phone started ringing just then. Nico’s followed suit.  
“Kill me,” Nico mouthed at Lewis, who simply shrugged in response. Valtteri was faster to gather up the courage to answer and face the king’s wrath. Faces of both princes turned into ones of utter horror as their scolding progressed and the room was completely silent by the time their fathers were done with yelling at them.  
“So,” Lewis started, “are you guys grounded?”  
Nico smacked him playfully.

Kimi was arguing with two men in suits outside the room. Valtteri was inside alone, Nico and Lewis had had to leave for a race, but they had promised to come back as soon as they could. It had been something of a miracle their teams had let them stay this long, probably missing tons of sponsor events.  
His room had a big window into the hallway and with the shutters open he could see everything happening there. Kimi seemed to be losing the argument which Valtteri assumed was about him. He wondered if Mika had sent new bodyguards, seeing that Kimi had allowed the prince to get snatched, even with the swift return. The door opened and Kimi let the men in.  
“Your highness, these men are from the police, they wish to speak with you,” Kimi explained the situation. Of course, with the kidnapping being public information, the police wanted to get involved too. The men took seats next to his bed, not waiting for permission. Valtteri took their looks in, growing more and more certain than this was no ordinary police. No, these men had to be from the local intelligence services, possibly sent by Putin himself. No big surprise, Valtteri thought, kidnapping a foreign diplomat was a good way to ruin relationships between countries. Not that Mika would have attacked Russia or anything, but still. Any blame game would have been harmful too.  
“Sir, we are terribly sorry-” one of the agents started, pretty much confirming Valtteri’s deduction, but Kimi interrupted him.  
“The correct way to address him is ‘your royal highness’,” the bodyguard corrected. Valtteri assumed it was just to annoy them as Kimi only bothered with proper titles in front of the king. That was one reason Valtteri liked him, his life had enough formality without his bodyguard enforcing it.  
“As I was saying, your royal highness,” the man glimpsed at Kimi who gave an approving grunt, “we are terribly sorry about this incident. The president himself sent you his best wishes and hopes for a swift recovery.”  
Yeah, definitely agents.  
“He also launched a full investigation into this matter and we promise to catch the people responsible.”  
The men looked hopefully at Valtteri, but the prince stayed silent. With Kimi’s guidance he was getting very good at unhelpful silences.  
“In order to do that, we would like to ask you some questions.”

What followed was an uncomfortable interrogation, the men asking questions and Valtteri trying to remember details. Despite what the doctors had promised, most of the events were just a blur in his head and he doubted the memories would ever come back. Not that he wanted them to. More than once Kimi had tried to help him and had only stayed silent after they threatened to remove the bodyguard from the room. Valtteri knew that Kimi, just like Felipe before him, would rather eat his own leg than let their protegé alone with unfamiliar people. Eventually the men stood up to leave, nodding courteously at Valtteri and without another word, walking towards the door.  
“I told you he wasn’t ready for this!” Kimi yelled after them. Maybe Kimi was right, Valtteri felt very tired and like a headache was coming. He cursed the stupid concussion, startling Kimi by accidentally doing so out loud. Kimi gave him a sad smile.  
“You go to sleep, I’ll make sure no one bothers you,” the bodyguard said. Valtteri decided to do just that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis and Nico return and Valtteri gets to go home.

True to their word, Nico and Lewis showed up a couple of days later. They had played some cards, told jokes and eventually Nico had grown too tired to go to his hotel and had fallen asleep in Valtteri’s hospital room. Valtteri and Lewis had been looking at him in an uncomfortable silence for a while before Lewis spoke.  
“Nico told me what you did.”   
Valtteri instinctively glanced at the prince, who was snoring on the sofa.  
“And I wanted to thank you.”  
Lewis’ comment was the last thing Valtteri had expected.  
“For what?”  
“For rescuing my best friend you dumbass,” Lewis said and smiled. It was among the cutest smiles Valtteri had ever seen.   
“Nothing special,” he responded awkwardly, hoping his blushing wouldn’t be too visible in the dim lighting.   
“Going all master ninja was nothing special?” Lewis asked. “Man, I need to know what else you are hiding.” Lewis tickled Valtteri, which was a ballsy move considering he had just called Valtteri a ninja. The prince laughed and screamed, waking Nico up in the process.  
“Nothing, I swear!” Valtteri screamed, face completely red now. “Kimi help, he’s trying to tickle classified information out of me!”  
Sighing, the bodyguard stepped forward.  
“Sir, I must ask you to move away from the prince.”  
Lewis pouted but retreated back to his chair, evading the curious gaze Nico threw at him.

They were standing behind the glass doors to the hospital. A great day for Valtteri, finally getting out of the hospital bed and flying home. They were inconvenienced by media showing up though, and now Kimi was swearing angrily to his phone, trying to arrange an alternative route out of the hospital. Of course getting the first post kidnapping photos of the crown prince was high on the paparazzis’ list. Valtteri looked at Nico. The other prince smiled at him. They had grown closer during the days Valtteri had been in bed, with Nico barely leaving his side. Neither talked about what had happened, but Nico had made clear how grateful he was and now he insisted on getting lockpicking lessons from “the queen of thieves” as Nico put it. Valtteri had eventually promised to see what he could do once his arm healed.   
Valtteri tapped patted around his pockets, trying to find his phone. He didn’t really need it, he just wanted to fiddle with something while Kimi was sorting out the situation. He muttered a curse when he couldn’t find it.  
“What is it?” Nico asked, elegantly raising one eyebrow.  
“Can’t find my phone,” Valtteri responded.  
“You must have left it in your room,” Lewis chimed in, “Nico, go see if you can find it!”  
The prince pouted. “Why me?”   
Lewis gave him a meaningful look.  
“Fine,” Nico huffed and sprinted towards the elevators. Lewis glanced at Kimi, who was still occupied with yelling at his phone and arguing with the hospital stuff, and turned to face Valtteri.  
“I’ve been thinking,” Lewis said and looked straight into Valtteri’s eyes, causing the prince to blush ferociously, “and Nico has been kinda down lately, you know.”  
Valtteri nodded. He had seen it too.  
“So, I was thinking we could go shopping and get him something to cheer him up.”  
Valtteri stared at him. Shopping? He was no good when it came to buying stuff, probably largely because as a prince most of his shopping had always been done for him.  
“I don’t know, I think he might prefer shopping with you,” Valtteri mumbled, shifting his feet awkwardly.  
“Or we could just, you know, hang out when you have time,” Lewis suggested. “And exchange numbers of course.”  
Valtteri laughed. “Pretty sure I’m grounded like forever.”  
“Can I at least call you?” Lewis asked, a hint of desperation in his voice. Valtteri blinked. Why would Lewis want to call him?  
“Of course you can,” a low monotone voice said before Valtteri could gather his thoughts. Kimi had apparently finished yelling and was now listening to their conversation. “Give me your phone,” the bodyguard instructed Lewis and then tapped Valtteri’s number in Lewis’ address book. Kimi’s smile when he handed the phone back made Valtteri suspect the duo was up to something, but before he could investigate further, Nico ran back with his phone. Barely stopping to see that their car had arrived, the prince grabbed Valtteri’s hand.  
“Come along old man, time is of essence and the peasants want to see their queen!” Nico yelled at Kimi and dragged Valtteri out of the doors.

Valtteri was alone with Kimi at the airport, waiting for their plane to clear all the pre-flight checks before boarding when he first looked through his messages. There was one from a number he didn’t recognize, but the sender wasn’t hard to guess.  
 _“I like you, you dumb potato.”_   
Lewis liked him! He smiled widely through the flight, not caring that Kimi shot amused looks at him. At the Helsinki airport he immediately switched flight mode off to send the response he had planned most of the flight.  
 _“Dumb potato likes you back.”_  
His phone vibrated straight away with a new message.  
 _“Omg I’m so sorry I didn’t send that!”_  
Before Valtteri could respond and express his confusion, Lewis called him.  
“I don’t think you’re dumb!” Lewis pretty much screamed at him. Valtteri moved the phone further away from his ear.  
“I mean, shit, I didn’t send that message, but I DO like you,” Lewis babbled.   
“I like you too. But if you didn’t send that, who did? It’s your number,” Valtteri said thoughtfully. He might have figured it out even without Kimi whistling loudly.

He hopped out of the car in front of the castle, too busy to think about the epic scolding that would certainly happen inside to watch his steps. His foot slipped on the wet pavement and he felt a sharp pain in his ankle. Swearing very unprincefully and scaring the royal guards he hopped on his other foot and supported himself against the car. Kimi walked to him, looking concerned.  
“Prince, are you okay?” he asked. Valtteri tried to put weight on the foot he had hurt, wincing as he did so.  
“Yeah, but I twisted my ankle,” he answered. Kimi smiled wickedly and Valtteri had a haunting realization of what the bodyguard had in mind. He tried to step away, momentarily forgetting his twisted ankle. He had fallen down on the wet pavement had it not been for Kimi who caught him in time and lifted him in his arms.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll carry you princess.”   
Oh so Kimi was hopping on the princess bandwagon too. Valtteri smiled. Kimi wasn’t the only one who could play this game.  
“I am your queen, now carry me to my castle servant!” he responded and waved to the people who had gathered to see their prince return home as the bodyguard carried him inside.

“But dad!” Valtteri protested from his bed. He would be stuck there for about a week until his ankle healed. Normally doctors would have ordered him crutches but with his arm still in cast he didn’t have that option. He was left with a choice of bed or getting pushed around in a wheelchair. He didn’t feel very dignified in the chair so he spent most of his time in bed or the tv room sofa.  
“Absolutely not,” King Mika repeated. “You are not risking yourself just because you want to hang out with some commoner. And besides, your performance in Russia was barely passable. Mr. Kovalainen thinks you need more lessons in speech and diplomacy and I agree.”  
Valtteri groaned. He had really wanted to see that race. He would probably not find time to watch it from TV either, not with Heikki and the private teachers bossing him around.  
“Can’t I have some rest at least? After everything I’ve been through,” he tried, really not feeling like studying. Mika laughed wholeheartedly.  
“Truly your father’s son! I think you rested long enough in that hospital,” Mika said and ruffled Valtteri’s hair. “It’s time to get life going again and with that note, I must leave for the conference.”  
As soon as the door closed, Valtteri grabbed his phone to text Lewis.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Lewis visit Valtteri during their summer break. Valtteri shows them around his castle and wild Turbo appears.

Straight out of the car, Nico ran up the stairs to hug Valtteri, ruining the crown prince’s planned greeting.  
“Princess you look great!” Nico screamed and patted Valtteri’s head.  
“It is nice to see you as always, prince Nico,” Valtteri mumbled as they separated from the hug. He was aware that his face was red like a fire engine and there was no way he could hide it from Lewis, who walked up the stairs in a much more calm manner. Valtteri smiled and offered his hand to Lewis.  
“A pleasure to see you again, Mr. Hamilton,” Valtteri said, cursing the royal habits Heikki had hammered into his head. Lewis stared at him, their handshake suddenly frozen.  
“Ooooh he said pleasure,” Nico pointed out and whistled, breaking the awkward silence.  
As they walked in, Valtteri could hear Lewis whispering with Nico.  
“What the hell have I gotten myself into?”  
“He’s just trying to impress you,” Nico whispered back. They stepped into the grand entrance hall. Shiny wooden floors, perfectly set up flower vases and gorgeous chandeliers perfectly executed the image of elegance and wealth without being too pompous. Lewis whistled quietly.  
“I am impressed.”

 

“It’s so cool to see where you grew up!” Lewis said. They were sitting in one of the formal living rooms and Lewis was scared to touch anything there. All the furniture was no doubt irreplaceable antique and there was expensive looking vases everywhere. Nico had thrown himself on one of the sofas, not worrying about the age of the furniture, Valtteri was sitting in one of the chairs, not exactly relaxed but also clearly not scared of breaking anything. Lewis turned to look at Nico.  
“So this is where you spent your summer vacations?” It was kind of hard to believe. Nico was so lively and for a kid like Nico this fancy castle seemed like a boring place to be in. Yet Nico had always talked about his trips to Finland with great enthusiasm.   
“Not exactly, no,” Nico answered. “There’s the summer place in the west part of the country. I must have told you about it?”  
Lewis shook his head. Though it made sense, Nico had talked a lot about swimming in the sea but this spot didn’t seem very good for it, not with all those ships around and the lack of anything resembling beach. The square in front of the castle had paved steps going into the sea and that was it.   
“We are going there tomorrow,” Valtteri pointed out. “We just wanted to give you a chance to see our beautiful capitol.”  
“The tourist guide strikes again,” Nico said and rolled his eyes. Lewis burst out laughing and Valtteri felt blush creep on his cheeks.  
“Don’t worry princess,” Nico said, referring to the blush, “Lewis thinks it’s cute.” Lewis punched Nico playfully, but he was right. Valtteri’s blush was one of the most adorable things he had ever seen.

“This is not what I was expecting,” Lewis said, sounding disappointed at the sight of Valtteri’s royal bedroom. He had begged for him to show it for the past three hours and Nico had joined the choir. The room was quite basic. Not many personal items visible. Just his antique bed, some tables and chairs and doors leading to his walk in closet and en-suite bathroom. It was all sophisticated and neat, not too luxurious. Valtteri shrugged.  
“This was all here when I moved in,” he said. “My maid keeps it clean and I don’t spend much time here anyway.”  
“The royal bed is not seeing much action then?” Nico teased, drawing out the blush again.   
“Only all the action of me sleeping in it,” Valtteri responded, hoping to sound nonchalant about the matter. It was no secret that unlike many princes, he didn’t sleep around. He had kept his private life off the pages of gossip magazines and he intended to keep it that way.  
“If you don’t spend time in here, then where?” Lewis asked, not acknowledging the bickering of the two princes.  
“In my office,” came the response.  
“Christ, you’re so boring,” Nico whined.   
Valtteri raised one eyebrow.  
“You haven’t seen it yet.”

The theme of antique furniture continued in the office but that’s where the similarities ended. It was clear Valtteri spent a lot of time here. There were large bookshelves filled with study material and a tidy pile of notebooks on the desk. In one corner was some neatly organized training equipment. All the walls were covered with posters presenting various subjects of interest, some to do with politics, but also mechanical drawings of locks, exercise programs and some pictures of F1 cars. Compared to the bedroom, this room looked like someone actually lived in it.   
Valtteri waved his hands around. “So this is it.”  
Lewis smiled at him, and Valtteri melted at how cute his smile was. He busied himself with going through the desk’s drawers, picking up a very special lock; the first one he had ever picked. Valtteri held it up, smiling at his friends.  
“We are going to need this for your lessons.” Both stared at him, puzzled looks on their faces. Valtteri sighed.  
“It’s a practice lock. Lets you see what you are doing,” he explained, showing them that the lock was made of see-through plastic which allowed a good view of the mechanism.  
“I have a couple of others but we won’t have time for special locks,” he said, genuinely sorry that Nico and Lewis didn’t have more time to visit him over summer, just one week over their summer break from racing. He carefully placed the lock in his suitcase that was sitting on a chair next to the door. 

A big ball of fur slipped through the open door and brushed itself against Valtteri’s leg before proceeding to hiss at Nico.  
“You still have that devil’s incarnate around?” Nico asked and backed away from it. Valtteri picked the giant cat up, rubbing its belly adoringly.   
“Turbo, meet Lewis,” he said to the cat. “Lewis meet Turbo.”  
Lewis approached cautiously. The cat was huge and looked quite grumpy. He put his hand forward to pet Turbo, but the cat hissed at him and threw its paw with nails extended out, scratching Lewis.  
“Ow!” Lewis yelped and leapt away from the cat. “He’s quite a charmer.”  
Valtteri wasn’t listening instead staring at the cat.  
“Why must you always do this?” he complained and THEN turned to look at Lewis. “I’m sorry, he doesn’t like strangers. Or, you know, anyone.”  
Valtteri poked his head out of the room. “Emilia come here!”  
They heard hurried steps from the hallway and then a maid appeared and bent her knees in greeting of her prince.  
“How may I help your highness?” she asked and bent her knees again.  
“Could you please call me Valtteri?” Valtteri groaned, clearly uncomfortable with the formal approach.  
“As you wish, Valtteri. How can I help you today?” she asked again. Valtteri passed Turbo to her and Lewis and Nico watched in awe how the cat just accepted it and no one got scratched.  
“Get him ready for the trip,” Valtteri said and the maid bent her knees once again, which was quite impressive when she was still carrying the large cat. Nico looked after her in horror.  
“You’re taking him too?” he said hysterically. “He’s going to kill me in my sleep!”  
Valtteri rolled his eyes and took Lewis’ hand.  
“Come, let’s get this cleaned!”   
With that he pulled Lewis out of the room.

“I didn’t take you for a cat lady,” Lewis smirked while Valtteri rummaged his medicine cabinet for bandages. He was cleaning the scratch, sitting on the toilet seat while Nico was leaning on the door frame.  
“Well you are absolutely correct, because that furry bastard isn’t a cat, it’s the satan dressed as a cat,” Nico responded from the door, prompting Valtteri to seize his search and turn around to look at Nico angrily.  
“Don’t you dare insult my cat,” Valtteri snarled, waving a tube of toothpaste at the prince. “This is exactly why he doesn’t like you!”  
Nice lifted his hands up in surrender. “Okay okay, I’m sorry, I’ll apologize to his royal furryness next time I see him.”  
Valtteri glared at Nico suspiciously but turned around to resume his search, passing various items to Lewis, who was starting to struggle to hold everything.  
“I think this is enough,” Lewis said, trying to not laugh at Valtteri’s blush. “This is a small scratch, I only need some bandaids.”  
Lewis passed rest of the items back to Valtteri. Valtteri put them back into the cabinet while Lewis covered the wound with a bandaid. He noticed too late that it had a moomin print. Valtteri smiled at his choice of pattern and then took Lewis’ hand to check on the wound.  
“Have you been vaccinated against tetanus?” he asked with all seriousness, catching Lewis and Nico unprepared.  
“I don’t know man!” Lewis answered and threw his hands in the air. Valtteri sighed.  
“Let me call my doctor.”  
Both men stared at him.   
“Are you serious?” Nico asked. “It’s a scratch!”  
Valtteri shrugged. “I like him and I prefer to not get him murdered by my cat.”  
It was Lewis’ turn to blush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this taking so long. The next two chapters are under way so hopefully the next break won't be as long.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone who has helped with this story. You know who you are.


End file.
